Rask snags Vezina, Bergeron multiple winner in NHL awards

Wednesday

Jun 25, 2014 at 1:38 AMJun 25, 2014 at 2:15 AM

Patriot Ledger staff and news services

Maybe it’s time to stop thinking of Patrice Bergeron as overlooked and underrated.The Bruins center was a big winner Tuesday night at the NHL Awards presentation in Las Vegas. Bergeron received the Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) as determined by a vote of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, took home the NHL Foundation Player Award for his charitable work, and a fan vote determined that he’ll be on the cover of the EA Sports NHL ’15 video game.

Bergeron, a Selke finalist for the third straight year, also won the award in 2012. In addition, he placed fifth in voting for the Hart Trophy (league MVP, won by the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby).

Tuukka Rask will also bring multiple awards back to Boston. He earned the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie, and was named a first-team All-Star.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was also named a first-team All-Star, and finished second to the Blackhawks’ Duncan Keith in voting for the Norris Trophy, which is awarded to the league’s top defenseman.

Defenseman Torey Krug was the Bruins’ other honoree. He was named to the All-Rookie team.

Bergeron beat out Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar and Chicago captain Jonathan Toews for the Selke. The smooth two-way forward, who also won the NHL Foundation Player Award for his charitable work, won a league-high 1,015 faceoffs while finishing second in the NHL with a career-best plus-38 rating.

Rask went 36-15-6 and finished in the top five in every major statistical category — including a league-best seven shutouts — to win his first Vezina for Boston, which claimed the Presidents’ Trophy with the NHL’s best regular-season record. The NHL’s general managers chose Rask in a narrow vote over Colorado’s Semyon Varlamov, who finished fourth in the Hart Trophy balloting.

Crosby won the NHL’s most valuable player award for the second time.

After his first full season without major injuries since 2010, the Penguins’ 26-year-old center cleaned up at the NHL’s awards show to cap a fruitful year that included a second gold medal as Canada’s captain at the Sochi Olympics. Crosby also collected the Art Ross Trophy as the league scoring champion and the Ted Lindsay Award as the players’ choice for the NHL’s most outstanding player.

Colorado coach Patrick Roy won the Adams Award, while Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon became the youngest player to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.

The winners of the league’s statistical awards also were recognized at the ceremony in the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas.

Alex Ovechkin accepted his fourth Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top goal scorer, while Jonathan Quick and the Kings won their first Jennings Trophy for the NHL’s fewest goals allowed.

Dominic Moore of the New York Rangers won the Masterton Trophy, an award for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Colorado’s Ryan O’Reilly won the Lady Byng Trophy for his sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct after scoring a career-best 64 points while committing just one minor penalty all year.

Anaheim general manager Bob Murray was voted the NHL’s general manager of the year after building the Ducks into the two-time Pacific Division champions and the Western Conference’s top regular-season team.

Keith comfortably beat out Chara and Nashville’s Shea Weber for the Norris, which he also won in 2010. Keith, who led all defensemen with 55 assists while leading the Blackhawks in ice time for the ninth straight season, is the only active NHL defenseman with multiple Norris wins.

Edmonton’s Andrew Ference, a former Bruin, won the King Clancy Award for humanitarian contributions to hockey, while Los Angeles captain Dustin Brown won the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award for his charitable work.